From Via Maris to Electronic Highway: The Internet in Canaan

摘要

The Via Maris—The Way of the Sea—was for millennia the main trade route connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia. The section joining the Mediterranean coast to Damascus linked many major cities of what, in biblical times, was known as Canaan. For well over a thousand years, this region was a single political entity under the Arab Caliphates, then the Ottoman Empire, and, after World War I, as a British Mandate. This region is now occupied by Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel (see Table 1 for statistics), which have a modern history of complex, often hostile, and evolving relationships. Perhaps the Internet may help fill the role once played by the Via Maris in linking the countries of this small, troubled area.